Reflections on the Incarnation of the Word

Last Thursday at Navigators, I heard a message that opened up my mind to a new way of thinking about the purpose of the cross. We were studying the first few verses of John, which are probably well known to even the newest believer. Here is John 1:14 :

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

I have known for a long time that this refers to the incarnation of Jesus Christ and I understood that Christ came to save the sins of the world. I also understood that everything was for His glory. What caught my attention Thursday night was a revelation of why God’s plan for the world is the way it is. God was in complete control over the fall of man. If He wanted to prevent it, He could have. If He did not prevent it, that must mean that He wanted it to happen. This is strange. I think He did it to prove Himself. There may be an unfailing love of a husband towards his wife, but it is not seen so much as when he buys her flowers for no reason or brings her breakfast in bed.

After last Thursday night, I am more convinced than ever that the reason that God did it this way was to demonstrate His attributes in the fullest way to His creation. What do I mean by this? I’ll take two attributes of God and tie them back to John 1:14. Justice and love are some of the attributes of God in the Bible. In Job 37:23 it says:

The Almighty—we cannot find him;he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate.

Without the fall God still would have been just. He would be just in not administering punishment on the innocent. That’s good. It is hard to put my mind around the implications of this. One of the reasons that God allowed humanity to sin was to show His justice. Hell is an awful reality. Sometimes I cannot comprehend why God chose to send humans to hell. After all, Lucifer and his demons would have demonstrated God’s justice plainly enough. I am not going to discuss the topic of God’s choice to save some and condemn others. I do know this. The angels (perhaps both heavenly and damned) understand the matter differently. 1 Peter 1:10-12 puts it this way:

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

The angels don’t fully understand the gospel.  Angels don’t have second chances.  One sin damns them to eternal suffering.  The blend of God’s love and justice is confusing to them.  So, if you will bear with me and take a different perspective as you read this entry.  Rejoice in the fact that God saves at all!  This brings us back to John 1:14.  Why did the Word have to be made flesh?  Once again, God’s attributes would have been the same if the Messiah had not come to live on this earth.  Humanity could have fallen like the angels without hope of return.  God blessed John with an understanding of this phenomena.  In 1 John, he talks about why believers love.  Here are verses 7 – 12 of the 1 John 4:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

I am using many excerpts from scripture in this post, but I think that God describes Himself better than I do.  In this passage we see the reason why God sent His Son into the world.  The love of God was manifest through Jesus Christ substitution for us.  He loved us so much that He spent all His wrath on Christ (this is what the word ‘propitiation means’).    This great love of God would not have been so clearly seen if we had no need for it.

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:1-3

The Son of God was already amazing before he revealed God’s attributes to humanity.  I think that’s the reason that God did it this way.  Believers will have a much more intimate relationship with God than did Adam and Eve.  We understand His character so much more.  We have seen who He is in creation as they saw.  We see the sunsets and sunrises.  We hear the gentle breeze and feel God’s works moving in our daily lives just as they saw.  But I think it was impossible for them to see how big God really is.  He really is just and loving.  He not only tells us He loves us, but He acts as the loving husband.  Only Christ did not merely make us breakfast or brings us flowers.  He laid down His life.

The Word was made flesh so that we could see God.  God allows everything that happens on this earth to happen so that we can see God.   And in seeing God more, He is glorified more.  And the cherry on top is that seeing God gives us a joy that is unmatched in this world.  I thank God for the incarnation so that we could see Him fully, truly, as He is.

God Bless.